casual closure c a p t u r i n g
by PKAquaFlame
Summary: Is there really no way to reach me? Am I already gone? Ness/Lucas


Disclaimer: I own nothing.

If you haven't figured it out, this is an AU oneshot. I'll explain at the endnotes.

On with the fic!

* * *

"I guess this is it."

Lucas nodded numbly as he saw that his train had just arrived. This very best friends had made a point to see him off. Brawl had just come to an end and everyone was to go back to their home worlds. Sure, there was a chance that they would come back for the next tournament, but nobody knew how long it was going to be until then. And on top of that was the chance that they _wouldn't_ be asked to come back.

The first to say goodbye was Peach. Her oceanic eyes filled with tears.

"I'm gonna miss you soo much!" she exlcaimed, giving Lucas a bone-crushing hug. Lucas hugged back as hard as he could. During the tournament, the two had a little brother-older sister relationship. Lucas always came to Peach for advice and help on the new recipe she gave him (Lucas had planned on baking his father a cake when he got home), and Peach always went with Lucas to take care of the flowers and taking care of some small animals that had wandered into Smash Manor and keeping them away from the villans.

Peach released Lucas from the hug and gave him a teary smile. Lucas smiled back.

Takashi came up to the young blond, messing up the boy's hair.

"I'm gonna miss you, Luke. Don't forget to email me," he said. Lucas smiled. Ever since they had teamed up during the Subspace fiasco, they've become close friends. Lucas loved playing with Squirtle and Ivysaur and occasionally Takashi would call out Charizard so he and Lucas would fly around the manor on the fire Pokemon's back. Lucas had learned a lot from Takashi (like how to climb trees and skip rocks) and had come to see him as an older brother.

"I'll...m-miss you too, T-Takashi. A-And I won't," the blond replied. As Nana and Popo gave him tight hugs, Lucas smiled even more. He had bonded with the Ice Climbers over snowball fights, snowmen, and hot chocolate. Considering that the three had taken part in these activities nearly every day, there wasn't much more that could be said about that.

As Lucas was confronted by the final person in the group, Lucas' heart clenched in a mixture of sweetness and pain.

_Oh God. Ness._

Ness' carefree grin was wiped off his face as the two PSI users stared at each other. The two were complete opposites: One had black hair, the other blond. Ness' shirt had blue and yellow stripes, Lucas' had red and yellow stripes. Ness had dark, stormy eyes and Lucas had eyes of sky blue. As the two stared each other down, Lucas tried not to break down and cry right there. During the late-night conversations and complete randomness of being roomates (like when Takashi and Ness barged into the room slapboxing the crap out of each other), Lucas had somehow fallen for the ink-haired boy. Who could blame him? Ness was so kind and easy to talk to, and Lucas was socially inept when he came into Brawl. Ness pulled Lucas out of his shell, and for that Lucas would forever be grateful.

"So you're leaving..." Ness finally said. Lucas nodded.

"Y-yeah..." he replied. Ness seemed to consider something, and then grinned, pulling out a camera.

"Wanna take a picture? I'll find a way to send it to you, honest!" he exclaimed, holding out his pinky. Lucas smiled and curled his pinky with the other boy's. They gave each other a one-arm hug as they smiled at the camera. A flash later, Ness pocketed the camera and grinned. Lucas smiled back shyly.

_"All aboard!"_

Lucas' smile instantly disappeared. He was leaving so soon? No...he wanted to stay a minute longer and tell Ness...

His thoughts were interuppted by Ness giving him a tight hug. Lucas blushed, hoping that Takashi wouldn't notice him blushing. (Peach already knew about Lucas' crush: She called it one of her natural feminine abilities.)

"Uh...N-Ness?" he asked. Ness released his hold on Lucas.

"Sorry...It's just that I'm gonna miss you so much!" Ness explained. Lucas blushed a bit more. Ness' face took on a teasing look.

"It won't be the same with your snoring interuppting my sleep!" He added. Lucas sputtered and blushed even more.

"Hey...I d-don't snore!" he exclaimed.

"Oh yes you do!" Ness exclaimed in sing-song, poking Lucas' arm. Lucas batted Ness' hand off.

_"Final call! All aboard!" _

Lucas' throat might as well have closed. He gulped. He had to tell Ness now. If he didn't, he may not get another chance.

"N-N-Ness?" he asked.

"Yeah, Luke?" the black haired boy replied. Lucas gulped again, trying to memorize his face. The way his ink-colored hair framed his pale face, his stormy gray eyes that seemed to sparkle at the slightest motivation..._No, Lucas! Don't get distracted! Tell him now! _

"I..."

_If you don't..._

"I..."

_Ness may never know! You'll never know what could have been!_

"I...I...I hope you have a safe trip home," he finally said. Ness frowned at the wish.

"Okay. You too," he said sadly. Lucas gave Ness a quick hug and boarded the train. As the doors closed and he took his seat, regret and disappointment ate at his heart.

_You idiot! _he scolded himself. _That was the perfect opportunity and you blew it! _

Lucas leaned his head against the window and took one last look at his circle of friends. Peach and Takashi were hugging each other while Nana and Popo had both glomped Ness. Ness grinned at them as they let go of him and shot a glance at Lucas inside the train.

The train started to move slowly. And the two PSI users kept their eye contact until Lucas couldn't see Ness anymore. Then his heart burst in despair and he cried himself to sleep, lulled by the downpour going on outside.

He couldn't make out what he saw in Ness' eyes. He wished he knew.

* * *

"Hey, son! This came in the mail for you!"

Lucas smiled at his father. It had been two weeks since he came back to Tazmily. His father had interoggated him about the events of the past year and Lucas had obediently told him nearly everything. The one thing he _didn't_ tell his father was his feelings for Ness. He was way too scared to and he didn't want to open up _that_ particular wound quite yet.

Lucas took the envelope from his father's hand and went to his room to open it. Upon taking its contents out, Lucas could feel his heart clench again.

In his hand was a picture of two boys giving each other a one-arm hug. The boy wearing the red baseball cap gave the camera a wide, cheeky grin and the boy with the sky blue eyes smiled shyly. They gave each other a one arm hug as the one in the baseball cap held the camera to take the picture. He flipped the photo to see a message written on the back.

Lucas burst into tears upon seeing this message. A few knocks could be heard on the door.

"Son? Son? Is everything okay in there?" his father asked from beyond the door.

"I...I'm a-alright. I'll be...down in a minute," Lucas finally managed, giving the message one last look as he came downstairs.

The message was as follows:

_Hiya, Luke! _

_My Smash screenname is earthbound96. I want you to keep in touch because I think I'm starting to feel something for you and damn if I don't get a chance to explore it...or something._

_Talk to you later, _

_Ness_

* * *

**Recommended Background Music - _Vienna_ from The Fray**

The reason I wrote this is because in a few months, I'll be graduating from high school. It's kinda bittersweet when you realize that while you get to be your own person going into college, you may never see half of the friends you make in high school again. The idea of that is devastating to me because I've made the most awesome friends...I'm going to miss every one of them. :'(

Please review.


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